TACLOBAN CITY – Agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) have reason to rejoice as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is expected to sign into law the New Agrarian Emancipation Bill on Friday, July 7, this year.
Under the said bill, unpaid amortizations of the principal debt, including interest and surcharges amounting to P57.56 billion incurred by 610,054 beneficiaries of land transfer programs under the Presidential Decree No. 27, Republic Act No 6657, as amended, and Republic Act No. 9700, shall be condoned and written off by the government, once signed into law, relieving the ARBs from the burden of payment.
Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Eastern Visayas Regional Director, Robert Anthony Yu, disclosed that in Eastern Visayas, about 207,000 ARBs will be benefitted by this bill.
In San Jorge, Samar, Liberato Nueva, 66, a recipient of a two-hectare farm lot awarded to him under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), could not hide the happiness he feels when informed about the scheduled signing of the said bill.
“Salamat kay waray na ako paghuhunahuna-on nga babaydan kun pananglitan madayon an pagpirma han aton presidente.” (Thank you because I will have no debt to think about anymore if ever the signing by the president will push through), said Nueva.
Nueva, a widower, was among the 40 ARBs who recently received their electronic Certificates of Land Ownership Award (e-CLOAs) generated under DAR’s Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) project.
(JOSE ALSMITH L. SORIA/PR)
